Recent strong earthquakes in California are prompting calls for earthquake awareness from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA), which is also focusing this month on young people learning how to prepare for all emergency situations.
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Recent strong earthquakes in California are prompting calls for earthquake awareness from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA), which is also focusing this month on young people learning how to prepare for all emergency situations.
In other action, the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) is reminding citizens that 120 state facilities serve as cooling centers, and the Illinois State Police (ISP) is stepping up efforts to recruit new troopers through a Fast Track Program that offers job opportunities for local police officers.
Earthquake zones
The recent 7.1 magnitude earthquake in California and its thousands of aftershocks led IEMA to recently issue a call on its Facebook page for earthquake awareness and preparedness in Illinois:
“The recent earthquakes in southern California serve as a stark reminder that earthquakes can happen anywhere in the world and at any time of day! Teach your family and co-workers the importance of learning how to ‘Drop, Cover and Hold On.’”
The agency suggests a number of tips for earthquake preparedness, including assessing your home for safety and being prepared for self-sufficiency for 14 days. More information can be found athttps://www2.illinois.gov/iema/Preparedness/Pages/Earthquake.aspx. IEMA also created a number of helpful videos, which can be found at https://www2.illinois.gov/iema/Mitigation/Pages/EarthquakeMitigationVideos.aspx.
Southern Illinois is bordered by the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone on the east and the New Madrid Seismic Zone on the west and south. The agency says more than 3,000 earthquakes have been recorded in the New Madrid Seismic Zone since 1974, most of which were so small as to go unnoticed. The New Madrid Seismic Zone is the more active of the two, according to a Northwestern University study published in 2010. The largest quakes ever recorded in the continental United States occurred along the New Madrid Seismic Zone during the winter of 1811-1812. Three major quakes ranged from 6.8 to 8.8 magnitude.
Disaster planning involving youth